Custom Printed Mini Mylar Bags for Samples, Sweets and Single Serves

What are mini mylar bags?

A mini mylar bag is a flat foil bag small enough to sit in the palm. It is sealed on three sides, with a zipper running under the top seal and a tear notch cut above it.

The customer tears the top strip off, takes what they need and presses the zipper shut. The laminate is the same metallised PET / PE used on full-size bags, so a sample is protected as well as the product it comes from.

They come plain in bright gloss colours, blue, red, black, gold and silver among them, or printed with your design. A frosted window lets the contents show on the front.

What do brands put in mini bags?

Anything sold or given away in a small quantity. Sample programmes are the biggest use, followed by single-serve snacks, sweets and seed packets.

Larger plain and printed foil styles sit together on our foil mylar bag range if the sample bag needs a matching full-size pack.

• Tea and coffee tasters sent with a subscription box
• Single-serve nuts, trail mix and dried fruit
• Jelly beans, fudge pieces and pick and mix for parties
• Flower and vegetable seed packets for garden centres
• Bath salt, scrub and face mask powder trial sizes
• Spice tasters and recipe kit portions

What size mini bag holds 10 g, 25 g or 50 g?

The sizes below are the ones most buyers settle on. Light products such as loose tea take more room per gram than dense products such as seeds, so the same bag holds different weights of each.

Zipper, tear notch and hang hole on a small bag

The zipper on a mini bag is a fine profile that still presses shut with a thumb. It sits about 15 mm below the top edge, with the tear notch above it, so the heat seal across the top keeps the bag tamper-evident until opened.

A round hang hole punched in the top seal lets the bag hang on a peg hook. Mini bags on a counter display sell well beside the till, and the hole costs nothing in artwork.

Single-use samples can skip the zipper and have a heat seal only, which brings the price down. Tell us how the bag is used and we quote the right closure.

Windows on mini bags

A frosted window on a black mini bag is the most popular look in the range. Jelly beans, sugared almonds and coloured seeds show through it and the black border frames them.

The window is a clear area in the laminate, with the metallised layer left off that patch. It lowers the barrier a little, so bags for long shelf lives keep the window small or leave it out.

Window shapes, sizes and the trade-offs in barrier are covered on our mylar bags with a window page, which also shows the larger sizes.

Film and barrier for samples

A sample has one job: to taste or feel like the full-size product when the customer tries it. If a tea taster has gone stale, the sale is lost before it starts.

Metallised PET / PE keeps light off the sample and slows oxygen and moisture for the weeks it spends in a post box or a drawer. For samples with a long life, a solid foil layer adds margin.

Food-contact, high-barrier and compostable film options are available on request and confirmed on your quote. The structures are explained in our barrier film and laminate explainer.

Printing on a bag the size of a business card

There is room for a logo, a product name and a short line on the front, and a small ingredients or instructions panel on the back. Anything smaller than 6 pt type is hard to read on foil.

One colour print in black or white is the usual choice on a plain gloss bag, and it keeps the cost close to a plain bag. Full colour digital suits a flavour range where each bag needs its own panel.

Our designers set the artwork and send a free proof. Minimum type sizes, seal areas and file formats are in our guide to designing pouch artwork.

How do you fill and seal mini bags by hand?

Mini bags are nearly always filled by hand with a scoop or a small funnel. A desktop impulse sealer closes hundreds in an hour.

1. Lay the open bags in rows on a tray, notches facing you.
2. Weigh or scoop the fill, keeping it below the zipper.
3. Press the zipper shut with a thumb along its length.
4. Seal the top strip with an impulse sealer on a low setting.
5. Check a bag from each batch by pulling the tear notch.
6. Count into boxes or thread onto a display hook.

Common mistakes with small bags

Overfilling is the first. A mini bag filled above the zipper line will not close and the seal picks up product. Fill to two thirds of the height at most.

Choosing a fine zipper for a sticky product is the second. Fudge and gummy sweets clog a small zipper. A heat seal only bag, torn open and eaten in one go, works better for those.

The third is printing a full panel of small type. On a 60 × 90 mm bag the ingredients go on the back in a short block, and the front carries the name and little else.

Mini bags for cosmetics and bath samples

Bath and body brands use mini bags for trial sizes of bath salts, sugar scrubs, clay masks and milk bath powder. A 10 g sample in a gloss black bag with a white logo looks the part in a parcel.

Dry powders and crystals suit the zipper bag. Creams and liquids need a sachet sealed on all four sides instead, so the product cannot work into the zipper.

When the sample turns into a full-size order, the retail version of the same product sits on our bath salt and scrub pouch page.

How to order mini mylar bags

Tell us the product, the fill weight, the bag colour or print, whether you want a window or hang hole, and the quantity. Quantities are quoted per order, from £0.25 per unit, confirmed on a written quote.

Printed bags get a free design proof before production. Plain bags skip the proof and go straight to the run.

Production takes 4–6 business days, then free tracked delivery across the UK in 2–3 business days. Misprints or damage reported within 10 days with photos are reprinted or refunded. Start on the mini bag quote request page or message us on WhatsApp.